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"American Life" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It is the titular track from her ninth studio album ''American Life'' (2003), and was released digitally as the lead single from the album on April 8, 2003 by Maverick Records. It was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï; the lyrics to "American Life" feature violent transitions and a political and religious view from Madonna. She questions the shallowness of modern life and the American dream under President George W. Bush's conservative watch. Towards the end of the song, Madonna raps naming the people who were working for her. "American Life" was universally panned by music critics, with ''Billboard'' criticizing Madonna's rapping, and ''Blender'' naming it as the ninth worst song of all time. Despite receiving mostly negative reviews from music commentators, "American Life" reached number one in Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan and Switzerland, and the top ten in Australia, where the song was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). However, the song peaked at number 37 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, staying in the chart for eight weeks, while it debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Two music videos were shot for the song, both directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund. The first one featured Madonna at a military-themed fashion show, cavorting with a brigade of female soldiers and in the end, she throws a hand grenade at George W. Bush. Prior its release, it caused controversy regarding its political, racial, violence and religious views, leading Madonna to release a statement explaining its concept. After the invasion of Iraq started, Madonna cancelled the release of the original music video, because of the political climate of the country at the time, and released an alternative version, featuring her in front of a backdrop of flags from around the world. The song was performed on her American Life Promo Tour (2003) and on the Re-Invention World Tour (2004). ==Background and release== "American Life" was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï. "I could be having a guitar lesson and something will just come to me," the former observed. "Or Mirwais will send me over music – rough stuff that doesn't have an arrangement: basic chord progressions. 'American Life' itself came about like that."〔Rees, Paul: 'Listen very carefully, I will say this only once', ''Q'', May 2003, pp84-92〕 In April 2003, Madonna discussed her motivations behind "American Life" with VH1 while talking about her experience in the music industry. She stated "I look back at the 20 years behind me and I realized that a lot of things that I'd valued weren't important", in response to the non-materialistic themes of the record. Discussing the album, Madonna said about "American Life":
To counter illegal Internet downloads of the song both before and after the single's release, Madonna's associates created a number of false song files of similar length and size. Some of these files delivered a brief message from Madonna saying "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" followed by minutes of silence. However, the song leaked online one day before its official premiere. "American Life" premiered on March 25, 2003, through AOL. The song was released in the United States on April 8, 2003.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=American Life / Die Another Day (Single) )〕 "American Life" went on sale two days later, through digital services Liquid Audio, RioPort, and also through Madonna's website in MP3 format. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American Life (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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